Ingredient Information

Function

Modified Corn Starch is a fine, powdery flour made from the endosperm of corn kernels. It is an additive that's made by treating starch, which modifies one or more of its physical properties. This change may affect the texture, how fast it dissolves, or how easily it can be digested. The starch can come from corn but can also be made from wheat, potato, rice, or tapioca. It's added to foods to act as a thickener, to acquire a certain texture, or to keep foods moist.

Other Use and Industries

It also finds use in paper manufacturing and clothes starching.

Health Effects

Modified food starch is typically added to processed foods such as sauces, pie fillings, and gravies. They're not healthy in the respect that they don't add any nutritional value to food, but they aren't harmful. People who have gluten allergies should stay away from this ingredient though, unless a food containing it is labeled "gluten free."

Origins

Thomas Kingsford is credited to have been the inventor of corn starch in the 1840s, while he was working as the superintendent of a wheat starch factory in Jersey City, New Jersey. Until 1850, corn starch was used primarily for starching laundry and industrial uses. The corn is steeped for 30 to 48 hours, which ferments it slightly. The germ is separated from the endosperm and those two components are ground separately (still soaked). Next the starch is removed from each by washing. It is separated from the gluten and other substances, mostly in hydrocyclones and centrifuges, and dried. (The residue from every stage is used in animal feed and other products.) This process is called wet milling. Finally the starch may be modified for specific purposes.